Saturday, March 13, 2010

Salade Nicoise (niˈswaz), is a hifalootin name for a viniagrette-based tuna salad. It's also the filling for Pan Bagnat, (pan ban-YAH, I always need to check the pronunciation, myself - darn those French and their silent Ts!) which is just this salad stuffed into a baguette.

This is a frequent warm-weather lunch in our home; now that spring is in the air, I'm starting to get cravings for it. It's light, quick to make from pantry ingredients - and most importantly, it's incredibly healthy. At least mine is, as I omit the hardboiled eggs and use lowly canned sardine instead of tuna.

The other reason is that these fish are canned whole, bones included, vastly improving their nutrition. In an oft-quoted Town & Country magazine article entitled "The Unsung Sardine" author James Villas wrote "ounce for ounce, sardines provide more calcium and phosphorus than milk, more protein than steak, more potassium than bananas, and more iron than cooked spinach."

Mix olive oil, vinegar, mustard, and a dash of salt and pepper; set aside. Carefully fold together remaining ingredients , keeping fish in large chunks. Dress with oil and vinegar mixture. Season to taste and serve on crackers.